On a three-day mission to improve his West Coast political prospects, the president played down his private meeting with Davis in favor of an unusually busy public schedule highlighting his efforts to conserve electricity at federal installations, ease summer energy costs to the poor and boost the state's long-term resources.

Davis, a Democrat with hopes of challenging Bush for the presidency in 2004, demanded that Washington force down electricity prices that have cost California nearly $8 billion since January.

''We are entitled to relief,'' the governor said in a public discussion with victims of the energy crunch, staged in the same hotel where Bush was staying. ''It doesn't matter if someone thinks we should have relief, the law says we should have relief.''

Polls show voters in the nation's most populous state don't think either politician is doing enough to ease their power woes.

Eduardo Aguilar of Oceanside, Calif., right, holds a sign outside the entrance to the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base in Oceanside, Calif., Tuesday where President Bush is speaking. About 100 protesters gathered outside the base calling on Bush to support limiting energy rates.Denis Poroy/AP

A spokesman for Davis dismissed Bush's call for a new tone on the energy debate.

''We're asking the president to step up to the plate to use the power that only he has, and that's to provide some short-term price relief,'' spokesman Steve Maviglio said.

Bush and Davis sparred in separate public events before their long-awaited meeting, scheduled for late Tuesday.

The session was tightly choreographed, and neither side expected a resolution of their differences. Too much was at stake: After weeks of mixed signals, Bush needs to show Californians he sympathizes with their power problems. Davis, his approval rating plummeting, is searching for a scapegoat -- and a way out of the energy crunch.

Shortages and high prices could spread elsewhere and cause political problems for Bush. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham was in Yonkers, N.Y., on Tuesday, warning that transmission bottlenecks are not restricted to California.

Bush has criticized California, and by implication Davis himself, for not building more power plants or moving quicker to respond to fallout from faulty state deregulation laws. He sought Tuesday to remain above the fray, even as White House advisers continued to criticize Davis privately and predict that the governor's confrontational approach would backfire.

''Energy debates sometimes throw off some sparks, but this is no time for harsh rhetoric. It's certainly no time for name calling. It's time for leadership. It's time for results. It's time to put politics aside and focus on the best interests of the people,'' Bush said during a visit to Camp Pendleton, a Marine base that has cut its energy usage.

He did not mention price caps, but advisers said Bush had not budged from his belief that artificial limits won't lower consumers' bill and will lead to supply problems down the road.

In the sundappled courtyard of the 1st Marine Division headquarters -- nicknamed ''the White House'' for the color of its low-slung wood facade -- Bush delivered a speech offering small measures of federal help to California.

The initiatives include:

$150 million to help low-income Americans pay energy bills this summer.He will ask Congress to approve the additional spending for this fiscal year, which ends in October.

His announcement that military facilities in California have exceeded their goal of trimming usage by 10 percent during peak hours.

A Department of Energy project to stimulate the building of more electrical lines running north and south through the state.

Bush also said his $1.35 trillion tax-cut plan will offer ''some help'' to people struggling to pay soaring energy bills.

Davis, who was elected in 1998 in a landslide, has watched his job approval rating drop about 20 percentage points since January as he struggled to come to grips with the state's energy shortages and rolling blackouts.

Bush's job approval rating is still relatively high, though 56 percent of Californians in a recent poll said they disapprove of his handling of the electricity crisis.

The president has avoided the state since losing its 54 electoral votes to Democratic rival Al Gore by 12 percentage points. He visited 29 states to promote his tax and budget plans before finally coming to California.

Senior Republicans, including some Bush advisers, privately concede that Bush's prospects are dim for winning California in 2004. They are working on electoral map models that don't include the state in his chase for 270 electoral votes.

Bush had to eek out a recount in Florida to win the presidency without California last year.

This article published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Wednesday, May 30, 2001.